1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an arrangement for fastening a plug into an opening between two mutually parallel edges, the arrangement comprising at least one fastening portion, at least two grooves and at least one flexible element in connection with the plug.
The invention also relates to a plug comprising, in connection therewith, at least one fastening portion, at least two grooves and at least one flexible element.
2. Description of Background Art
Plugs are commonly used for example for connecting electric wires and data cables into electric appliances. Plugs are typically fastened using screws. A fastening made by means of screws is slow and requires separate tools to be used during fastening. A fastening made by screws is also much too difficult particularly in such arrangements, in which the plug has to be detached, may be more than once, in order to change the internal order of the wires to be coupled to the plug or in order to couple new wires.
It is known in the art to use panel mounting fasteners, which are fastening portions to be separately mounted into the plug, for fastening a plug into an opening formed in a case or between two mounting busbars. A panel mounting fastener comprises a body and flexible strips made of the same material as the body and arranged to the body of the fastening portion, the strips having a substantially rounded groove, into which an edge of the case opening is placed. A panel mounting fastener is fastened at both ends of the plug so that the plug is fastened in the direction of its ends into the case opening using the flexible strips. The drawback with panel mounting fasteners is that the same flexible strips enable to mount the plug into the case opening and form a joint between the edge of the case opening, in which case the joint is not solid enough. Moreover, as the body of the panel mounting fastener and the flexible strips in the fastener form an integral part, the panel mounting fasteners have to be made of such a material that endures bending without breaking.
It is an object of this invention to provide a simple and reliable arrangement enabling rapid fastening in order to fasten a plug comprising, in connection therewith, means for tightly fastening the plug.
The arrangement of the invention for fastening a plug into an opening between two mutually parallel edges is characterized in that the grooves are directed outwards from the plug and in that a body, a body part and a cover of at least one fastening portion form the first groove arranged against a first edge, and in that the second groove is arranged against a second edge, and in that the groove arranged against the first edge is deeper than the groove arranged against the second edge, and in that the flexible element is placed at the bottom of the deeper groove.
The plug of the invention is characterized in that at least one fastening portion in connection with the plug comprises at least one first groove formed of a body, a body part and a cover of the fastening portion and directed outwards from the plug, the flexible element being placed at the bottom of the first groove, and in that the second groove in connection with the plug is directed substantially in the opposite direction from the plug as regards the first groove and is shallower than the first groove.
The essential idea of the invention is that in order to fasten the plug into an opening between two mutually parallel edges, the plug comprises in connection therewith at least one fastening portion, at least two grooves and at least one flexible element so that the grooves are directed outwards from the plug and in that the body, the body part and the cover of the fastening portion form at least the groove arranged against a first edge, said groove being deeper than the groove arranged against a second edge, and that a flexible element is placed at the bottom of the deeper groove to enable the plug to be mounted into said opening. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the fastening portion is made into an integral structure together with the plug.
The invention provides such an advantage that the plug can rapidly and easily be mounted and that no tools are needed during installation. The structure of the fastening portion is simple and reliable. The grooves ensure a solid fastening into the edges of the opening. The same fastening portions are applicable in plugs of varying sizes made by different manufacturers. When the plug is fastened to the case, no sub-case of the plug is required, thus saving costs. A further advantage of the invention is the simple form of the opening to be made into the case, on account of which the opening is easy to produce.